If anything, Joe is a victim of his early success, when he made a couple of great trades to help build an NBA Championship team out of nothing. GM's started lowballing him, because they were afraid of being the next GM to be "posterized" by Joe Dumars.

Compounding the problem: no FA is going to choose to play in Detroit if he has nicer cities to play in. When it comes to free agents, the Pistons are a "fallback offer" in case they can't go where they really want to play. Consequently, the Pistons have to overpay for mediocre players just to fill out roster spots.

Whether you like Joe or not, he has been directly involved in all three NBA Championships the Pistons have ever won.

but some of this is Joe's fault. Michael Curry, Billups for Iverson, BG for 60 mil. These were intensely bad decisions that set the franchise back a good deal. Some of the heat Joe is getting is not deserving, but some of the decisions he has made are fireable offenses.

I agree with the rest, but I will still argue that Billups for Iverson was a great trade and a ballsy one, and Billups is one of my favorite Pistons ever (and I loathe Iverson). The problem wasn't that trade, but what Joe did with the cap space it created. It was a genius move followed by a series of terrible decisions that wasted all of the positives of that trade.

he tied the hand behind his back(Rip's hand actually) before freeing the other, assuring that Rip would be nice and disgruntled for the next 5 years. Rip was not signing to a rebuilding project when he signed that contract and that is what he ended up with 2 days later.

It bugs me that people cant debate on this site sometimes because of downvotes when it isn't a trolling situation. It would be much better to state why they disagree.........

Why I disagree is the fact that your premise that GM's are scared of each other is way off. To be a GM you have to be completely confident and know your stuff. Every team has a different need that has to be addressed.

He has milked his past success beyond where he deserves to be a GM anymore. The only thing that would prohibit me from canning him is the lack of an obvious successor. NBA is way different than NFL for identifying the next great thing in the front office. When you monitor 300 athletes in the league vs almost 1000 there is a much smaller pool to draw from.

The way is the draft. Joe has sucked at the draft. He might of finally of done OK with last year but even Monroe is not getting a lot better than what he showed initially

There are only 4-5 sexy places to play. There are only so many max players those teams can sign. That is another excuse.

Firing Frank isn't the wrong move per se but it's a little troubling that only one coach has ever lasted more than two years under Joe D. If I were Gores I would be telling Joe this is his last chance to get it right. New coach, cap room, and some building blocks named Drummond and Monroe and possibly Knight. If he can't make that work, it'll be time for new management.

Billups Averaged 17.9, 19.5, 16.5 and 17.5 points per game and over 5 assists per game for each of the 4 years after he left the Pistons and lead the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals....so yeah, i would say he was still in his prime

Because he's te only GM dumb enough to insist his teams going on these little mini-winning streaks at the end of the season. They could be tied for the 3rd slot in the lottery right now. Instead they could nd up with the 8th slot...before a "ping pong ball" is drawn.

...but if there was ever a time and a team, this seems like the perfect one.

He knows how to coach 2 bigs, he obviously knows how to coach young players, location, etc.

The only thing I'd worry is the Pistons drafting Trey Burke. That floop slap right in front of Izzo was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life, I can't see Izzo coaching Burke the very next year.

I'm not quite sure why they hired him in the first place. Stupid decision. Joey D needs to get his act together and make a smart coaching hire or hit the road himself. How a guy can go from unquestioningly one of the best front office guys in all of pro sports to one of the absolute worst in a span of 5 years is completely dumbfounding.

And I know it will never happen, but I feel obligated to throw this out every time the Pistons go on a coaching search: Bill Laimbeer.

I think he still wants to coach, but doesn't necessarily have the energy/passion to be a coach. You heard all about it when he almost became the Lakers coach again this season. All those ridiculous requests, with not wanting to really travel to away games being the most telling of them all. I can honestly see him as a Pat Riley type front office guy. Someone who can be a mentor to a lesser name coach and has a majority say in personnel decisions and strategy without having to be with the team 24/7. Now that is something I'd take over the Joey D regime any day.

The day we signed Charlie V and Ben Gordon, I knew the Pistons were screwed for the 5-8 years. I said it that very day.

If the Pistons are smart, they don't go after anybody in this crappy free agency class, and wait to spend that money in 2014 !

Yes it is another bad season, but get as much cap space as possible freed up and make a run, and while your at it, keep drafting in the draft.

They need to get rid of stuckey ( if somebody offers a 2nd take it), do not bother resigning Calderon or any other decent players. I would resign none of those free agents that come from our roster. I would talk to Monroe about an extension..Clean House

Byron Scott is out in Cleveland, too. I wonder if Dan Gilbert will finally make a large enough offer to Tom Izzo? Izzo isn't having nearly as much fun in EL as he was the last time Gilbert was throwing money around.

needs to figure out how to utilize both Moose and Drummond. Together, they don't mesh well because they both need to be down low or have space to be effective. It would restrict the freedom of spacing with both of them on the floor. Drummond looks to be the future NBA star.

They actually got a good core of young talent, but is still far away from becoming a playoff contender.

NBA coaches have little impact on games. Only the great ones do, and that is what makes them great. This roster is young, I think they should go after a out of the box type coach. A coach from the college ranks I think would fit with this younger roster. He can't be one of the I control everything type college coaches, like Izzo. The best guy for the job IMO is Bill Self.

This probably won't happen, but it is the kind of hire this team needs.

It may seem harsh to fire Frank from a team with a bad roster after two years but the knock on him has always been inability to develop talent. Drummound's success in the NBA will depend heavily on the next coach they bring in IMO.